The Tomb of Jesus and His Family? Exploring Ancient Jewish Tombs near Jerusalem’s Walls

by James H. Charlesworth

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2013

Overview

About 25 years ago archaeologists discovered a tomb near Jerusalem that contained a family’s ossuaries—limestone bone boxes commonly used in ancient Near Eastern burial customs—inscribed with some familiar New Testament names: Mary, Joseph, James, Mary Magdalene, and Jesus. Interest arose amongst the public and specialists alike, and in January 2008 an international congress of scholars met in Jerusalem to discuss this issue. This volume presents their findings. Covering the archaeological facts about this discovery, Jewish burial customs during the late Second Temple period, first-century inscriptions, the Talpiot tomb, the James ossuary, the Holy Sepulcher, Hazon Gabriel, and beliefs about burial and the afterlife within Second Temple Judaism, these essays offer expert perspectives on a much-publicized topic.

Key Features

• Addresses a much-contested archaeological discovery
• Discusses Jewish burial customs during the late Second Temple period
• Presents the findings discussed during the January 2008 international congress of scholars in Jerusalem

Contents

• “Introduction: Jerusalem’s Tombs During the Time of Jesus” by James H. Charlesworth
• “The Talpiot Tomb Reconsidered: The Archaeological Facts” by Amos Kloner and Shimon Gibson
• “The Imperfect ‘Tomb of Jesus and Family’” by Claude Cohen-Matlofsky
• “Burial Customs in Judea and Galilee in the Late Second Temple Period: An Important Component in the Discussion about ‘Jesus’ Family Tomb’” by Mordechai Aviam
• “The Ossuary of Simon and Alexander” by André Lemaire
• “What’s in a Name?” by Rachel Hachlili
• “Identifying Inscriptional Names in the Century Before 70: Problems and Methodology” by André Lemaire
• “Demythologizing the Talpiot Tomb: The Tomb of Another Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” by Stephen Pfann
• “Prosopography, Mitochondrial DNA, Statistics, and the ‘Yeshua Family Tomb’: Pensées of an Epigrapher” by Christopher A. Rollston
• “A Review of the Significance of the DNA Findings from the Talpiot Tomb” by Mark Spigelman
• “The Potential Role of Patina History in Discerning the Removal of Specific Artifacts from Specific Tombs” by Charles Pellegrino
• “The Talpiot ‘Jesus’ Tomb: A Historical Analysis” by James D. Tabor
• “The Memorial Mary Meets the Historical Mary: The Many Faces of the Magdalene in Ancient Christianity” by April D. DeConick
• “Mary Magdalene as Mara, Honorable Teacher” by Jane Schaberg
• “The Mariam Ossuary in Greek” by Jonathan J. Price
• “The James Ossuary and Its Implications” by Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J.
• “On the Authenticity of the James Ossuary and Its Possible Link to ‘the Jesus Family Tomb’” by Amnon Rosenfeld, Howard R. Feldman, and Wolfgang E. Krumbein
• “Who Is in the Talpiot Tomb? A Statistical Approach” by Mark Elliott and Kevin Kilty
• “Names, Statistics, and the ‘Jesus Family’ Tomb Site” by Camil Fuchs
• “A Critical Evaluation of the Occurrences of Common Names, Rare Names, and Nicknames: The Name Yose from the Talpiot Tomb as a Test Case” by Eldad Keynan
• “The Holy Sepulcher, Court Tombs, and Talpiot Tomb in Light of Jewish Contemporary Law” by Eldad Keynan
• “The Apostles and Brothers of Jesus” by Andrew V. Sills
• The Burial of Jesus in Light of Jewish Burial Practices and Roman Crucifixions” by Lee Martin McDonald
• “Understanding the Afterlife: Evidence from the Writings of Josephus” by Casey D. Elledge
• “Death and Burial Customs in Earliest Christianity” by Konstantinos Th. Zarras
• “Burial Practices and Faith in Resurrection” by Petr Pokorný
• “Polemics, Irenics, and the Science of Biblical Research” by James H. Charlesworth
• “What Is the Message of “the Patio Tomb” in Talpiot, Jerusalem?” by James H. Charlesworth

Product Details

• Title: The Tomb of Jesus and His Family?: Exploring Ancient Jewish Tombs Near Jerusalem’s Walls: The Fourth Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins
• Author: James H. Charlesworth
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2013
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 605
• Era: era:Contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Jesus Christ › Death and burial--Congresses; Jesus Christ › Family--Congresses; Tombs › Jerusalem--Congresses; Jerusalem › Antiquities--Congresses
• ISBNs: 9780802867452, 0802867456
• Resource ID: LLS:TMBJSSHSFMLY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:24:29Z

About James H. Charlesworth

James H. Charlesworth is George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary. His academic interests include the Dead Sea Scrolls, apocryphal works, the historical Jesus, the Gospel of John, and the Revelation of John. He teaches courses on the relationship between the Jesus traditions in the Gospels and the theologies of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the life and thought of Jesus of Nazareth, the Old Testament in the New, the Gospel and Epistles of John, and the Hebrew and theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He is the author of The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, The Pesharim and Qumran History, and is the editor of The Old Testament Pseudepigripha.